Hoover school board gives Superintendent Kathy Murphy 'above average' evaluation for third year

The Hoover school board gave Superintendent Kathy Murphy an “above average” evaluation for the third year in a row, according to evaluation results released tonight.

Board members gave Murphy an average score of 4.28 out of 5 after rating her in 10 categories, according to a report done by the Alabama Association of School Boards. That’s down slightly from the 4.4 average she received last year.

A 3 is considered meeting expectations, while a 4 is “above average” and means the superintendent consistently demonstrates high levels of performance and a 5 indicates the superintendent’s “performance far exceeds expectations and demonstrates exceptional quality and/or unique contributions.”

The five school board members rated Murphy on 48 attributes in 10 categories, and their scores were combined to form averages. She received an average score of 4.1 or higher in every category.

Susan Salter, director of leadership development for the Alabama Association of School Boards, which administered the evaluation, said Murphy once again “blew the top off” the evaluation.

While Murphy didn’t get a 5, “nobody’s a rock star in every category,” Salter told the board.

Murphy’s scores were particularly high for a superintendent in her third year, Salter said. Normally, these are the type scores seen in a superintendent’s first year during the honeymoon phase, and they tend to drop more after superintendents make difficult decisions such as redrawing attendance zones and terminating employees, Salter said.

Murphy, who began her job as superintendent of Hoover City Schools in June 2015, received her highest average scores from the board in financial management (4.5), communication and interpersonal skills (4.4) and professional development and leadership (4.4).

Her lowest average scores from the board were in educational leadership of the schools (4.1) and management of pupil personnel services (4.1).

School board President Earl Cooper said the board very much appreciates all that Murphy continues to do for the Hoover school district.

“As for all school districts, our challenges are many. But what sets Dr. Murphy apart is her willingness to own these challenges,” Cooper said. “She energetically works through challenges with clear communication and transparency among stakeholders both inside the school district and across the community.”

Board member Craig Kelley said Murphy does a monumental amount of work, and board member Kermit Kendrick said Murphy has handled the demands and requests of the U.S. Department of Justice and plaintiffs in the Jefferson County school desegregation court case with style and class. He commended her for her collaborative effort and attitude.

Other people's views

The Alabama Association of School Boards also asked people who report directly to Murphy and other stakeholders in the community, including the mayor, city council and parent and business leaders, to evaluate her. People reporting directly to her gave her an average score of 3.9 this year, down from 4.2 last year, while community stakeholders gave Murphy a 3.8 this year, compared to 4.2 last year.

Her direct reports rated her in 30 areas and gave her the highest scores in speaking and writing clearly, correctly and coherently (4.6), knowledge of laws and policies governing schools and system (4.4), and effective representation of the system at school and community events (4.4). They rated her lowest in supporting staff in utilizing technology (3.1), promoting the use of technology in all aspects of schools and the system (3.2), and taking an active role in improving curriculum and instruction (3.3).

Community stakeholders rated Murphy in 14 areas and rated her highest in taking a leadership role in improving education (4.3), demonstrating decision-making skills (4.2) and applying technological knowledge to her own areas of responsibility (4.1). They rated her lowest in ensuring proper maintenance of facilities and property (3.4) and establishing effective communication processes (3.7).

New salary supplement schedule

In other business tonight, the school board approved a new salary supplement schedule for athletic and academic coaches and other people who assist with special academic initiatives and extracurricular activities such as fine arts programs.

The new supplemental salary scheduled attributes actual dollar amounts to the various jobs, while the previous one, in most cases, tied the supplements to a percentage of the employee’s base pay. The latter made it difficult to tell what the actual supplements were.

Murphy said the new supplement schedule is designed to be more transparent and more equitable, so that employees doing the same amount of work at the same grade level are paid the same amount, with some accommodations for years of experience. Each of the jobs in the supplement schedule now also has a job description, which the system has never had before, she said.

The changes were not designed to lower anyone’s supplement — just to make them more fair and transparent, Chief Financial Officer Tina Hancock said. In fact, some people actually will be getting more, and all current employees receiving supplements will be “grandfathered,” meaning their supplement pay will not be cut even if the schedule calls for them to be paid less, she said.

The previous supplement schedule cost the school system $1.77 million a year, while the new one will cost $1.81 million, Hancock said. That’s a difference of $41,180, she said. With grandfathering, the difference climbs to about $51,000, she said.

However, the school system should see some savings in the future because coaching and extracurricular supplements no longer will increase automatically whenever pay raises are given by the district or state Legislature, Hancock said. Any increases in supplements will have to be voted upon by the school board, she said.

Also, as existing “grandfathered” coaches and sponsors leave those jobs in the future, the amounts will drop back to the amounts in the schedule, she said.

The school board also tonight:

Agreed to pay $78,598 for a new serving line in the cafeteria at Brock’s Gap Intermediate School to accommodate the younger — and shorter —children who will attend there next year due to reconfiguration of school attendance zones and grade levels.

Agreed to pay $65,000 more for the band room addition at Hoover High School to lay a larger concrete slab that will allow for more expansion in the future as the band continues to grow.

Agreed to pay $65,000 to have consultants from the University of Alabama at Birmingham analyze the school system’s discipline practices to see if there is any disparity in discipline for students of different races, meeting a requirement of a federal court order issued in December.

Heard a report from Assistant Superintendent Ron Dodson that school officials plan to have students in the Lake Wilborn and Blackridge communities — two new communities just being built — attend South Shades Crest Elementary School and Brock’s Gap Intermediate School. The system will ask U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala to approve that plan, Murphy said.